Here are some quick thoughts on the extensive package of emergency measures announced today by Prime Minister Trudeau, Finance Minister Morneau, and Bank of Canada Governor Poloz: The Pros: The government has worked quickly and creatively to find ways to deliver support to Canadians, and fast – using the infrastructure…
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Financial markets missed the memo about not panicking over COVID-19. They panicked, big time: several days of gut-wrenching drops that wiped more than 10% (or US$7 trillion) from worldwide valuations. The meltdown quickly caught the attention of policy-makers, who are now moving heaven and earth to reassure financiers their money…
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Implementing legislation for the new Canada–U.S.–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is now before the House of Commons. While the U.S. and Mexico have already ratified the deal, our parliamentarians can still examine the 2,000-page text, which will have lasting impacts on many matters far beyond trade. The opposition parties have called for…
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Indifference, said Antonio Gramsci, is “the mainspring of history.” By that he meant it is not the active few who determine what comes to pass, for better or worse, but “the absenteeism of the many.” The indifferent masses, he said, “allow the knots to form that in time only a…
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Canada recently dodged a bullet when the House Democrats negotiated the removal of extended periods of monopoly protection for biologic drugs, such as treatments for Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis, from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The Parliamentary Budgetary Officer estimated that these changes, if they’d gone ahead, would have cost Canadians…
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The Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes—Lion Air in Indonesia in October 2018 and five months later, Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa —killed 346 including 18 Canadians. Comparisons with the July 6, 2013 Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster reveal a predictable pattern. A runaway oil train laden with volatile Bakken shale oil…
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Photo courtesy Our Time to Lead Climate scientists warn that we only have 10 years to cut global emissions by 45% (below 2010 levels) if we are to meet the internationally agreed target of limiting global warning to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We also must fully decarbonize the global economy (net…
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In July, several members of Parliament—including NDP and Green leaders Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May—sent a letter to French legislators urging them not to ratify the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). “We agree that trade between our countries and continents is important,” it read. “However, we believe in…
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Canadian elections can be staid affairs. For all the talk of big change, campaigns tend to gravitate toward which party can be trusted to “manage the economy.” Trusted by whom? The coveted “middle class” voter, of course. Those at the higher-income end of that group are more likely to vote…
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Regulation. It’s not something many of us have time to think about. Most people are busy working, keeping the household running smoothly and generally living their lives. When we do think about how things are regulated, it’s usually after something terrible has happened: planes drop out of the sky, killing…
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